Better Vectorworks resource folder structure, please.

[bwfowler]

One of my favorite features of Vectorworks is its resource browser. I'm migrating my practice from Revit to VWA, so I don't have all of my favorites and templates set up just yet. I spend a crazy amount of time searching through a wealth of resources in a folder structure that just doesn't make sense to me.  For example, why are there "Default" folders? What's default for one practice might not apply to others. And since the component I need could be in any number of places, there are far too many dead end searches. 

 

My wish would be to get rid of the Default folders altogether. Use one rational folder tree for everything; like Building/Furniture/Bedroom. Or Annotation/Tags/Door, etc.

 

I realize that seasoned users may not have an issue with this, but I think these blind alleys are a barrier to noobs like me. 

 

Thots?

[Andy Broomell]

Are you using 2021 as your signature says?

 

If so, when you upgrade to 2023 you'll see that this was addressed and things are now a bit easier to find:

 

 

And yes, there's still a 'Default' folder, but that essentially just means default symbols and resources for specific tools.

 

If you're on the current version, let us know what you think, or if there's further reorganization that would improve it.

[Tom W.]

Also, you can set up your own library of Resources in Favorites + organise it exactly the way you want it + fill it with only the resources you're interested in. One of the first things I did was go through all the VW resources, extracting the ones I was interested in (not actually that many), putting them in Favorites, then supplementing those with my own resources from elsewhere. There is a lot of irrelevant stuff in the VW libraries, there's no point sifting through all of that each time you want to find something useful. Far better to personalise it.

[bwfowler]

Thanks, Andy. I'm in VWA 2023 SP2. (I updated my profile after my post). 

 

Would you agree that the Default folder is a bit random? 

[rDesign]

On the Session pane of the Vw Preferences, there is an option to ‘Enable Vectorworks Libraries’ which you could deselect and see if that works better for your workflow.
 

According to the VW Help File this preference:

Quote

Displays predefined content from Vectorworks Libraries in the list of resources available for selection in many places throughout the program, such as the Resource Manager and the Resource Selector lists for various tools, or the Text Style list on the Tool bar for the Text tool

 

[bwfowler]

Thanks, @Tom W. and @Andy Broomell

 

You are both entirely correct, for experienced users. My point is that a new user finds that having to reorganize a random file structure is unnecessarily tedious. 

 

Is there a good reason to have a default folder? Would it not make better sense for everything in that folder to be moved to the main file structure?

[bwfowler]

And thank you, @rDesign (Love yer avatar)

 

So, I could turn off the Vectorworks Libraries folder and not have access to it? Nuh uh... 🙂

[Tom W.]

16 minutes ago, bwfowler said:

Thanks, @Tom W. and @Andy Broomell

 

You are both entirely correct, for experienced users. My point is that a new user finds that having to reorganize a random file structure is unnecessarily tedious. 

 

Is there a good reason to have a default folder? Would it not make better sense for everything in that folder to be moved to the main file structure?

 

I did it as a new user + found it a really useful exercise, precisely for the reason you give: that there's an overwhelming amount of content + it can takes ages to find anything. Far better to carry out the search once for a few good brick textures (for example), save them in your favourites, then next time you know where to find them.

 

As others have said, the Defaults are there for the benefit of specific tools so just ignore them.

[bwfowler]

Oh. Thanks, @Rob Books

 

I think I missed the point entirely. Now I get it. I can ignore the default folders and not miss any resources at all. 

 

That helps a ton. Thanks to all.